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A despotic leader who murders his brother, that's clearly an act of terrorism

HR McMaster

Although Malaysia has never directly accused North Korea of the murder, South Korea's spy agency said the attack was part of a plot emanating from the highest levels of the rogue regime.

Mr McMaster said: “A regime who murders someone in a public airport using nerve agent, a despotic leader who murders his brother in that manner, that's clearly an act of terrorism that fits in with a range of other actions.”

He said: "You'll hear more about that soon, I think. It is something that's under consideration.”

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Kim Jong-un's North Korea could find itself back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism

Kim’s half brother, Kim Jong-nam, died in February after two women rubbed his face with a liquid later identified as VX nerve agent as he passed through the airport in Kuala Lumpur.

North Korea was on Washington’s terrorism blacklist for two decades after the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner that killed 115 people but was removed from the list by President George W Bush in 2008 as part of disarmament negotiations.

North Korea is already heavily sanctioned over its nuclear weapons programme, so designating it a state sponsor of terrorism would largely be symbolic.

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The alleged murder of Kim's half-brother may lead to North Korea's addition to the list

Mr Trump told reporters his administration planned to take a different approach after years of what he termed "total weakness” over North Korea.

He said: ”We want to get it solved. It's a big problem for our country and the world, and we want to get it solved."

In an apparent attempt to distinguish between the Pynongang leadership leadership and ordinary people, he said he thought North Koreans were "great people."